Why are phone plans so expensive?

[bhanson]

This is my phone. It is prepaid. My bill can be as low as $1/month. I use it in combination with Google Voice so if I'm at home then any phone calls will ring my gmail.

I also carry an iPod Touch that also receives calls if I'm in wifi. I have wifi at my home, work, and school. I also have a $25/month 4G hotspot that gets 6mbps anywhere in the city.

Although I am considering going to Virgin mobile's 300 minutes / unlimited data for $25/month so I don't have to carry two (/3) devices.

 

[Humpy]

You can bring your own phone to PagePlus. Pretty much all Verizon phones will work except the iPhone. Just buy a cheap Droid on Craigslist or Ebay and use it on PagePlus.

PagePlus is awesome. Currently have a $50 Palm Pixi+ and spend about $150 a year on the standard plan. Does everything I need, wifi, email, mp3, etc.

 

[50]

link?

http://www.t-mobile.com/promotions/g....mc_t=OnsiteAd

 

[dpodblood]

It's more expensive in Canada, and we're locked into three year contracts instead of the standard two. Landlines are still considerably cheaper.

Yeah. Once my contract is up with Bell I will not be renewing. I would rather just buy a phone outright.

 

[JimmiG]

Pay for the phone upfront. It's cheaper unless you change phones every 12 months, and you get an unlocked phone without any of the crap carriers load on to phones.

Also don't buy pre-paid minutes. It's a trick to make you pay for more than you need. On those rare occasions when you do need more minutes, they'll make you pay ridiculous sums to add hundreds more, when all you needed was perhaps 45 more minutes to make it through the month.

This month my bill is $29. This includes phone calls, data and texts for the past month.

 

[Regs]

Because there is a lot of people out there that enjoy the luxury of calling people anywhere at anytime, surf the net for info, and run apps. That would be the logical reaction of course.

I simply do not have a data phone or plan to get one anytime soon. I will wait for the cost of tech to go down so that it would be more enticing for me to get one. I do not feel like paying 30 dollars more a month on a data plan so I can find out what the Mets score is. Lets face it, the Mets will not have a winning season for some time to come .

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I'm currently on a family plan with att.

2 lines
700mins shared
200 txts on one
200mb data on the other

This shit adds up to around $120 a month? How have wireless telcos been able to continually rip everyone off like this?

What can I do to lower this?

Its all about want, not need. And since you want it they can bend you over for it.

Dumb is as dumb pays for. ()

 

[blinblue]

Virgin Mobile is great. $25/month (well, more like $24 if you buy refill cards from a 3rd party like callingmart.com, and no taxes), 300 minutes, unlimited texts and data. Get the LG Optimus or Samsung Intercept (flash a modifed ROM to it and it runs great, kinda sluggish otherwise) and you get a pretty decent Android phone. And you can tether too :shifty eyes:

The only issue is coverage isn't fantastic, but if you stay on the beaten path (most cities/towns and on interstates) you'll do fine (I've only had no coverage a few times and I do a decent amount of traveling).

If you need coverage, and don't need unlimited data, Page Plus is great at $30/month for 1200 minutes, 2000 texts and 100MB of data. And you can bring your own verizon phone (except the iPhone or prepaid Verizon phones unless its been in service for at least 6 months).

I'm personally on the Virgin Mobile $25/month plan with a samsung intercept, wife is on pageplus (she talks a lot more than the 300 minutes that virgin mobile allots. And virgin mobile's $40/month is more expensive than pageplus) with a used Droid (got it for $70). Total monthly bill comes to $52.41, not bad at all.

Oh, and no contract so I can jump ship to another provider if one gives a better deal, and you can always port your phone number with you, so no issues there.


Seriously, just about the only reason to get a contract plan is to get the latest and greatest phone, and maybe better roaming terms. But that's about it, everything else is worse with a contract plan IMHO

 

[Lean L]

Its all about want, not need. And since you want it they can bend you over for it.

Dumb is as dumb pays for. ()

reading ftw. Business line in there. As in for actual business. If it were up to me I'd be on hobo plans from month to month.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Pay for the phone upfront. It's cheaper unless you change phones every 12 months, and you get an unlocked phone without any of the crap carriers load on to phones.

Not necessarily. If I had purchased my Captivate or a international Galaxy S outright rather than getting it on contract I would have blown $200-$400 with nothing extra to show for it.

 

[BrownShoes]

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

the reason plans are so expensive is because of our subsidized plans.

People feel that only the TOP smartphones should be $199. Everything should be $150 or $99 even. Remember when the iPhone 2G came out? Remember how much it was? Even competing smartphones like the HTC Touch Pro was $299.

By pricing a $600 smartphone for $199, carriers suck up enormous upfront costs and push it back on you with expensiveass plans.

Didn't some site (Ars?) look at cell phone plans around the world and found that US consumers are paying far more than any other consumers in other countries....

Yeah. Once my contract is up with Bell I will not be renewing. I would rather just buy a phone outright.

This is what a lot of Canadians do. Fido, Rogers, Telus, and Bell all run on the same 3G bands and you can swap phones across networks easily... unlike in some other southern country where every carrier lives in a different world, has different bands or refuses to activate an unbranded phone.

 

[nutxo]

I'm currently on a family plan with att.

2 lines
700mins shared
200 txts on one
200mb data on the other

This shit adds up to around $120 a month? How have wireless telcos been able to continually rip everyone off like this?

What can I do to lower this?

family mobile

2 lines
1000 minutes shared
unlimited texting
200mb data ( you can assign which phone gets data on the website. Its actually 100mb per phone .You can buy more data if you need it as prepaid)

88 a month after taxes.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

It's more expensive in Canada, and we're locked into three year contracts instead of the standard two. Landlines are still considerably cheaper.

I remember the old 1 year contracts and how I would get the new top of the line phone every year =(

 

[Linflas]

I was on a family plan with Verizon that was costing me 80 something a month which was supposed to be the cheapest plan. My wife and I are not phone yappers so we barely put a dent in the minutes so I finally decided I was going to switch over to a prepaid plan. When I called to do this they magically discovered a 40 dollar a month family plan for us.

 

[Schfifty Five]

family mobile

2 lines
1000 minutes shared
unlimited texting
200mb data ( you can assign which phone gets data on the website. Its actually 100mb per phone .You can buy more data if you need it as prepaid)

88 a month after taxes.

Sprint
4 lines
Unlimited minutes to ANY cellphone
Unlimited texts
Unlimited data
~$160

I pay $40/month for my share.

 

[ponyo]

reading ftw. Business line in there. As in for actual business. If it were up to me I'd be on hobo plans from month to month.

And that changes things how? You don't use it much for business given your low usage plan. Don't tell me you always need to talk to customer service. I also use my phone for business and I think I called and spoke with CS twice in 14 years I've been with T-Mobile. And both were non emergency afterhour calls.

Your plan is cheap for business. And you write it off on taxes.

 

[Lean L]

And that changes things how? You don't use it much for business given your low usage plan. Don't tell me you always need to talk to customer service. I also use my phone for business and I think I called and spoke with CS twice in 14 years I've been with T-Mobile. And both were non emergency afterhour calls.

Your plan is cheap for business. And you write it off on taxes.

It's 700 right now due to the built up rollover and free att to att calls. We go over anytime minutes every month. Yes, it is written off on taxes. Still seems like a rip.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Sprint
4 lines
Unlimited minutes to ANY cellphone
Unlimited texts
Unlimited data
~$160

I pay $40/month for my share.

Same but my bill for the family is under $100.
Self, wife, daughter and granddaughter (pre-authorized #s only)

Client discount of 25% from back in '04

 

[JulesMaximus]

Because people are fucking stupid and they'll pay it.

 

[Zebo]

You're only options are to move to Europe, or get rid of the smartphone.

Not really Boost has an android for 50-35 a month unlimited
http://www.boostmobilestore.com/bpdirect/boost/PhoneList.do?action=view&id=prevail

Boost CDMA is on sprint network so good coverage too. Just don't get iden phone.

All 3 kids are on boost for like 90 unlimited everything but they use i580s waterproof indestructible not andriods lol. They can break an anvil with a featherduster so I try and minimize costs.

 

[Zebo]

If anyone can correctly tell me the cost for lease space on a tower, then you'll have your answer. But ultimately it all comes down to the basic fact of "why is it anything expensive?"

Because you'll pay that price.

Depends where no? Rural KS maybe $2000 a mo? NYC? maybe $150,000 mo?

 

[DaWhim]

Prepaid FTW. most of you people will pay more in 1 month for cell phone service than me in 1 year.

traveling in south america at the moment. in peru, the prepaid sim card cost about $9, the internet plan cost $.3 for 10mbs a day. i was paying $1.5 a day for tmo if i want data on my phone.

 

[dpodblood]

Personally I pay $75/mo for my Free 5 calling, 500MB data, free evenings and weekends, and X number of texts (can't remember the exact number). To me it's worth it. I love being able to access the internet from anywhere. I spend more time checking email/facebook, and reading reddit on my phone than I do on an actual computer. It's something to do while waiting in line at the grocery store.

 

[FDF12389]

$25 a month with virgin mobile.